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Gary Crooks

This individual is no longer an employee with The Spokesman-Review.

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Opinion

Cute kids, repulsive politics

While heading into work on Friday, I saw a small group on the corner of Second Avenue and Lincoln Street waving signs in opposition to Referendum 71, which would give voter approval to the “everything but marriage” law that was adopted by the Legislature last spring. The law grants to registered same-sex couples the same rights and benefits accorded married couples under state statutes. Normally, I wouldn’t mind such a political display, but among those holding “Protect Children” placards were children themselves. Do you suppose the kids independently researched the topic before deciding they’d be imperiled if discrimination against same-sex couples were brought to an end? More likely, adults shoved the signs into their hands for emotional appeal. Must be that indoctrination I’ve been hearing about.
Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Smart Bombs: Police need to face facts

It’s disappointing to see the Spokane Police Guild resist the calls of Mayor Mary Verner to help close the projected $7 million budget deficit for the city of Spokane. Verner established a goal of collecting half that amount by gaining concessions from the various employee unions and she has gotten cooperation from several of them, including the Police Lieutenants and Captains Association and unrepresented members of Police Administration, according to a city press release. However, the city is only halfway to its goal of achieving $3.5 million in savings. Last year the police assisted the city in closing the budget gap. That is commendable, but more is needed. The mayor recently announced that 22 police positions would be eliminated if compensation concessions are not made. The Police Guild has missed its deadline and time is running out.
Opinion

Be patient with uncivil wars

Calls for civility have been ignored. Time to bring in Miss Manners. DEAR MISS MANNERS: My problem is with a colleague on the City Council. While I was out of town, he and three other council members brought up rule changes that directly affect the way I perform as council president. I “attended” the meeting via telephone and told the Gang of Four that this isn’t a life-or-death issue that has to get on the agenda right away.
Opinion

Gary Crooks: Governments fall into the gap

The latest conservative to discover the impossible nature of initiative-imposed revenue restrictions is Chris Vance, the former chairman of the Washington state Republican Party. In a column for the online publication Crosscut, Vance writes that King County will soon run out of budget items to cut and is suffering through an honest-to-goodness revenue crisis. King County’s general fund shrank in 2009 and is poised to do the same next year. It is projected to rise somewhat after that, but the 2012 total would still be less than 2008’s. Meanwhile, general inflation, particularly in health care, keeps rising. The county has had to lay off prosecutors and police officers and has postponed a decision on jail expansion. It is closing 39 parks, among other cuts. And yet it is facing another $54 million in cuts for 2011 and $88 million for 2012.
Opinion

From knee-jerk to nuttiness

You’ve heard of “too big to fail.” Well, this is a tale of “too big to punish.” Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a hastily constructed bill called the Defund ACORN Act, after video exposed ACORN workers offering tax-dodging advice to actors posing as prostitutes and pimps. So far, so good. If the community organizing group is defrauding the government while accepting government assistance, then the bucks should stop.
Opinion >  Syndicated columns

Smart Bombs: Public opinion loses out

A recent New York Times-CBS News poll asked: “Would you favor or oppose the government offering everyone a government-administered health insurance plan – something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get – that would compete with private insurance plans?” Sixty-five percent of respondents said yes. But based on how the U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama are dealing with health reform, it would appear that the public’s view on the public option is not an option. Obama has said that government-run insurance would only be available to those who are uninsured, and he estimates that only 5 percent would sign up. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has produced a bill without a public option.